How much does it cost to adopt a child in the US?????? Africa??????

Question

I was just wondering how much it costs to adopt a child.

Answer 1

Nothing!~  We adopted (in process now) a little boy who was already in the system.  The state pays for all of it.

Answer 2

Adoption fees vary a lot, depending on the type of agency/attorney/facilitator.

Agencies:

Private -- $5000 - 40,000  Covers all the legal procedures/hearings, medical including pare-natal, hospitalization, delivery; housing for birthmother for 0-10 months, counseling, all other services, etc. for birthmother.birthfather/baby.

Public -- $500 - $4000  Covers all of the above, but the adoption fees are subsidized by the public through taxes.

Attorneys -- same as private agencies, but they do NOT usually provide any counseling to birthmother!

Facilitator -- $1500 - 5000 PLUS the adoption fees (which are similar to private adoption fees, as most of their birthmothers come from the private agencies, and you pay the facilitator to "locate" a possible match for you.  They usually have never met the birthmothers they represent, and therefore usually provide NO counseling.

International Adoptions - $28-45,000.  They also usually provide NO counseling to birthmothers and no assistance to her, as her rights have probably already been terminated.  Important to know how much of your fee is going to the orphanage your child is from!

Answer 3

If you adopt a child from foster care system it is close to zero.

Iinternational adoption, can cost up to $20.000

Answer 4

a "waiting child" can be as little as a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, outside the country or an infant in the country any where between 20-35 thousand. good luck

Answer 5

for a healthy caucasian newborn in the US, with an agency, it probably costs about $50,000. I'm sure it varies quite a bit depending on the agency. if you're looking into it, be sure you know exactly what is covered when they tell you the cost. For instance, all agencies are different but, this is a good example of what I mean. If an agency hooks you up with a birthmother and she gives birth and you are expecting to adopt her baby and you have paid already and then she changes her mind when the baby is 2 days old -- some agencies will charge you the full cost again to hook you up with another birthmother. Other agencies (like the one I used) cover the cost up front and no matter what happens, you are not charged anything again. If three birthmothers change their minds before you get a placement, you never pay again. Obviously, these agencies charge you more up front but, you may end up paying a lot more the other way in the long run.

If you don't use an agency at all (I'm not sure that's legal in all states) you may end up paying many birthmothers for their expenses assuming they will give their baby up and never get a baby before your money runs out. Or you could get lucky and get a baby from the first birthmother you meet and actually end up paying no where near what an agency would charge.

I have no idea how much it costs to adopt from Africa. I looked into Russia, Guatemala, China -- and with all the travel, bribes, etc., it ended up costing closte to the same as a domestic adoption. And that is for a baby but, not a newborn. Also, there are many different risks to think of when adopting internationally. You should use a good agency and ask a lot of questions and get trustworthy references. Laws are very different in other countries and you could end up with many unforseen issues if you don't have people working with you that you are very confident about. Even with trust, it scared me to think of the possibilities of countries shutting down their adoption programs without notice, revolutions taking place, borders closing, etc. Also health risks in foreign countries is a much bigger unknown.

There are lots of factors besides cost to consider when trying to decided from where to adopt.

Good Luck!! I love my adopted children.